The present invention relates to an elevator hoistway for a multi-storied building which, to create a vertical travel path for an elevator installation, extends through at least one floor, and has at least one hoistway frame which bounds a hoistway penetration aperture in the floor.
Increasingly scarce and costly building land necessitates high-density construction of residential units with multiple stories. To use the residential space in this situation, the difference in height of the individual stories has to be overcome, which creates the problem of vertical transportation. If vertical transportation is provided by an elevator installation, there is generally also only limited space available for the hoistway of the elevator installation. Furthermore, installing an elevator is associated with additional investments that make it necessary for the building owner to consider the benefits in relation to the costs before the residential space is constructed.
Particularly the owners of one-family houses constructed in this manner give precedence to low construction costs and decide initially in favor of less residential space which can then be adapted to changing residential needs after its construction. Overcoming the vertical differences between the stories is such a need that changes during different phases of life. Whereas in younger years vertical transportation by means of adequate physical mobility is of little significance, with increasing age and/or the onset of impaired mobility the unrestricted use of multi-storied one-family houses is inevitably linked to an elevator installation. For the reasons mentioned above, when a one-family house is first constructed it is usual not to provide an elevator installation, and only to construct an elevator installation together with an elevator hoistway in or on the house at great cost when the need arises.
In German patent document DE 42 23 017 A1 there is shown a means of reducing the substantial costs of corresponding constructional measures when elevator hoistways and elevators are installed post-constructionally in multi-storied prefabricated houses that are constructed from prefabricated space cells stacked on top of each other in which an elevator hoistway is precisely prefabricated floorwise in the individual space cells which, when the space cells are stacked on top of and fastened to each other, forms a continuous elevator hoistway. Adjacent to longitudinal walling from space cell to space cell, and flush with it, there are in the floor and ceiling slabs of each space cell rectangular openings which in each case are bounded by a hoistway frame. Steel sections with wall cladding between them extend over three sides between the floor slab and the ceiling slab of a space cell, whereas on the fourth side an elevator door is provided.
By means of the standardized floorwise exact prefabrication of the elevator hoistway in individual modules, the cost of installing an elevator could be reduced, but here too, the decision in favor of an elevator installation and of the costs of constructing the hoistway, as well as the additional building space occupied by the elevator hoistway, still has to be taken into account when the residential unit is constructed. As a result, the building owner is still confronted with high elevator-related costs when the house is planned.
The purpose of the present invention is to propose an elevator hoistway which can be formed post-constructionally in an existing multi-storied building by simple and inexpensive means.
According to the present invention, in fulfillment of this task an elevator hoistway is proposed, which is particularly distinguished in that the aperture for penetration of the hoistway can be closed by means of a load-bearing floor structure.
The elevator hoistway components anticipatorily provided in the building structure reduce the cost of subsequent installation of an elevator installation, especially of an elevator hoistway, in an existing building. Should the need arise, only the load-bearing floor structure has to be removed, and the penetration, or aperture, for passage of the hoistway through the story floor is created by the hoistway frame which is already in place. This makes the invention particularly suitable for use in one-family houses where, thanks to this load-bearing floor structure, the volume of the elevator hoistway can be used as residential space until the point in time at which the elevator is subsequently installed.
Practically unrestricted utilization of the hoistway volume is achieved with an embodiment of the invention in which the load-bearing floor structure is aligned flush with the story floor, thereby maintaining a continuous plane surface. A simple means of aligning the floor structure is provided by a further embodiment, in which the hoistway frame can be adjusted in the vertical direction to the thickness dimension of the respective story floor.
The hoistway frame can serve as a force-transmitting interface between the load-bearing floor structure or, where an elevator has been installed, the suspension and guide equipment on the one hand, for example, and the story floor on the other hand, if the hoistway frame has anchoring means with which it can be connected into the load-bearing structure of the story floor.
In a preferred embodiment according to the invention, the floor structure is constructed as an insertable frame and inserted into the hoistway frame as a prefabricated component. Beside simple insertion into and removal from the hoistway frame, this embodiment affords great freedom in relation to the construction and form of the floor structure. In addition, the insertable frame component opens up the possibility of supporting the floor structure swimming in the floor surface, to compensate stresses or movements of the floor surfaces relative to the respective hoistway frames.
An especially preferred embodiment of the invention also envisages a hoistway frame non-positively anchored in the story floor which creates in the hoistway a vertical supporting structure extending over the entire travel path which can be connected to the hoistway frame, and to which the load-bearing floor structure is detachably attached. In addition to the load-bearing floor structure, the vertical supporting structure can also serve to have fastened to it, for example, hoistway doors and/or hoistway walls, shelves, or even prefabricated modules with an integrated floor capable of being linked to the structure.
The latter is part of a flexible concept achieved by means of the vertical structure for temporary utilization of the building space planned for the elevator. Its utilization can be adapted to the needs of the residents of the house as the residents"" needs change over their lifetime. With corresponding integration into the elevator hoistway of domestic water supply, drainage, and electric power supply, a prefabricated module can be formed as a sanitary unit which can be coupled to the vertical supporting structure and which contains, for example, a shower, toilet, and similar items.